But it surprises me how many people and organizations are just not customer-friendly. In fact, it not only surprises me, it down right annoys me. I try not to let it get to me, but sometimes I find myself scratching my head in bewilderment, wondering how these guys can stay in business, given that they have competitors right next door, or around the corner, just dying to ’steal’ their customer.

But then it hits me, that even their competition (if they have any) aren’t that impressive.

Why is this? Why do so many businesses give lip service to customer service? And why are they still in business? Are we as consumers too polite? Have we been “trained” by these companies to accept a lower standard of service?

I know that I certainly could be guilty of this. In my busy life, I don’t always have the time to complain. A wise man once said that you have to choose your battles…. but is that approach the downfall of our customer service expectations? It’s like a downward spiral.

For example, last month, my Canadian mobile phone provider inadvertently charged me an extra $2.47 for a call received while I was allegedly roaming “internationally”. In reality, I was on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and received a call on my Canadian mobile phone. I assume that the close proximity to the US border led to my signal being picked up by a US cell tower and thus the assumption that I was roaming.

Of course I don’t want to pay for something that I didn’t use… nobody wants to do that. So I call my carrier to see about getting this charge reversed. But after being on hold for 20 minutes, I decide it’s just not worth my time. So I feel ripped off and feel that I have no recourse. Unless of course I wait on hold for god knows how long but just cause I eventually get through to somebody, will they really be a person I can speak to and if so, will they really have the power to do the right thing?

I’m sure this happens all the time to a number of people. But if you think about the company, not only do they have a pissed off customer, my call on hold must’ve cost them someething as I tied up their phone line for 20 mins… maybe their cost on a phone line is 1 cent per minute? Multiply that by the number of calls they get, how many are abandonded, etc.

For a large mobile carrier, I’m sure these numbers add up to a lot… and these are things that directly impact their bottom line! But I digress.

So here I am, pissed off because I have to pay $2.47 for something I don’t think I should’ve been charged with. Not that its a lot of money, and I’m sure I’ll soon forget about it and it’ll be water under the bridge. But the fact that I couldn’t speak to somebody about it, pisses me off even more, and that’s something I won’t forget for a long time.

Boy I wish we had more choice for GSM carriers in Canada… imagine how the world would be if there were competition? Oh wait, we had 2 GSM carriers in Canada before but 1 of them didn’t like the idea of competition so they bought the other. Now they have a license to rip people off and provide poor service.

Hmmm, anybody want to startup a GSM carrier in Canada? Oops, sorry. Just realized, you wouldn’t be allowed to compete against the incumbent monopoly carrier.

In this initial post, I’ll focus on outlining the high-level ’steps’ and then go in to more detail on each one in subsequent posts. Hopefully at the end, I’ll have compiled a mini treatise that can be read in short spurts or all at once, depending on the reader’s time and of course willingness to invest that time to learn.

Keep in mind that I have a passion for food and technology…. after all, I’m a restaurateur and technologist. So my perspective is naturally slanted towards these areas. Therefore, what I have to say, may or may not be applicable to all businesses or all industries.

The keys to starting a successful business:

1. Identify a problem

2. Articulate a solution

3. Develop the solution

4. Test the solution

5. Sell the solution

6. Refine the solution

7. Enhance the solution

I’m sure most of this seems simple and of course logical… and if that’s what you think, you’re right. After all, this is not rocket science.

But the real work comes in the execution… and of course, the details of each one of these ’steps’.

Stay tuned as I try to dive deeper in to each one of these over the next little while.

Jason Goldberg, founder of Jobster and Social Median, posted an interesting video on keeping it small, lessons learned as startup ceo. Its an interesting video with some good insight for startups.

Jason learned through Jobster that having too much money means you have the temptation to spend more than you actually need to.

Some other good takeaways:

1. Focus on the product

2. Get your hands dirty

I’ve long been an advocate of keeping it small and bootstrapping your startup. This, I believe, is the best way of building value and focusing on doing the right thing. When you don’t have enough money, everything becomes a big decision. And, you don’t spend money on things like Herman Miller chairs :-)

I’ve spoken to a lot of people that are building their own startup, and the majority of them say they need a couple of million dollars… some as much as 5 or 10 million. But none of them has any idea on what they would do with that money. Most just read about other companies that raised millions of dollars and think they should be able to also.

Bottom line, spend as little as possible to prove your concept, get customers, and service them to the max. Oh, and raise as little money as possible. You’ll thank me in the long run :-)

However, I’m not so sure that I would agree with it. I think it’s a little dated for our current business environment. I’d agree that the customer is a lot smarter nowadays. Many of our customers travel and experience things around the world, all of which shape their perceptions and expectations.

Plus, they can access a ton of information on the internet which makes them a well educated customer. Often, more knowledgeable about their specific requirement or product/service they want than the people we have helping them. But does that make them always right?

I’m not advocating total anti-customer anarchy… what I’m talking about is focusing on the business rather than the customer. Sometimes, it may be in the best interests of the business to look at the customer as right, sometimes not.

Sam Walton, the late founder of Wal-Mart once said “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

While this is very true, it can be misleading as not all people can be your target customer. And this is where the “what’s in the best interests of the business’ strategy comes in to play.

Sometimes, the employee is right, or sometimes its the Manager that’s right and not the customer.

So, I’d suggest that anybody who believes the customer is always right, should rethink their stance.

I’d say that in probably 90% of the conversations I have, people just ramble… they try to impress me with their knowledge of the buzzwords of the day, dropping some names of people that they (allegedly) associate with, and often repeat what they say, but using different words.

When I speak, I try to get to the point… because my time is important to me, and so is your time, at least to me. It’s not that I think my time is worth more than yours, but its more a matter of trying to get all the things I want to get done in a day, and respecting that you might have a lot of things to do too.

When I talk to my clients (or prospects), I make sure my message is clear and concise. I know they don’t have time, and I also know that they appreciate when my message is to the point. What they really want to hear, concisely of course, is ‘what’s my point’… why am I telling them what I’m telling them.

I often talk about ‘telling it like it is’ and part of that means to be concise. If something sucks, then say it sucks (maybe use the appropriate word). If the person wants to know why, or asks for more details, then offer them up. It seems like everybody wants to give me the whole story and make me guess that what they’re really saying is that it sucks.

So the next time somebody asks you a question or you’re telling somebody something, get to the point as quickly as possible.

Its as if they don’t understand that sales is just as much about customer service as customer service itself. And if you can’t master the basics of sales, then you’ll damage your customer’s experience. In most cases, this damage is permanent, as in lost a potential sale permanent!

The other day I called up a company that had a pretty impressive client list and that’s done some excellent work, looking for a quote to possibly do some work for one of my consulting companies. I knew exactly what I needed and asked specifically for that.

The sales person decided to tell me about all the other things they could do (mistake #1 - never assume you are smarter than your prospective customer) and proceeded to try and upsell me (mistake #2 - never try to sell your customer something they don’t think they need).

I don’t think she even took the time to understand what I needed or explore my problem that I was looking to address (mistake #3 - never offer a solution to a problem that hasn’t been acknowledged). Sure, I might need the services she offered, but I need lots of other things.

The difference is… what am I interested in buying? Often, what I need, and what I want, can be pretty different. And that is the point. Very rarely will your customer know what they need… but they will often know what they want :-)

To turn a prospective customer in to an actual customer, focus on selling them what they want, not what they need. Then, once they’re a customer and you have a relationship with them, they might be more interested in listening to you tell them what they need.

So a few days pass and I get an email with a quote for 20k! Here I was thinking I needed this small thing for about 1k, and somehow this sales person thought it wise to push my budget twenty-fold. Imagine my surprise, and frustration! Generally you want to make the sale as simple as possible… be easy to do business with.

Needless to say, I’ve got a pretty bad taste in my mouth and probably won’t be doing business with them.

For example, when you ask a Lawyer what they do (obviously before you know that they’re a lawyer), they will tell you that they are a Lawyer. But does that tell you what they do? Do they sue people, do they defend? Do they write contracts? Do they mediate divorces? What really does a Lawyer do? Other than charge lots of money :-)

Or what about a CEO of a company… what do they really do?

I came across an interesting quote from Barbra Streisand (the famous Singer/Actress) that got me thinking:

“You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.”

So I gave this some deep thought and realized something about myself… I figured out what I do. Not just what I do, but what I love to do!

“I build companies”.

Thats right… I have learned to sum up what I do in 3 succinct words. And now, I’m trusting it, going with my gut, and getting involved in a number of startups. And, I’m having the time of my life!

No particular type of company per se, but I tend to gravitate more towards companies that are involved with technology, particulary as it relates to using technology to solve business problems. I’m also very involved in the food/restaurant business, travel, television/film, and anything entrepreneurish.

So the next time somebody asks you what you do, make sure you tell them what you do… not your job title or profession.

Do you know what you do?

The server was in his very early twenties and you could tell he wasn’t really a ’server’. He was probably the owner’s son: one of those kids that reluctantly works in the family business so he can justify his expensive college tuition.

The kid was a little timid, I almost felt that he was too scared to ask me for my order. When he finally mustered up the courage, I told him what I wanted and off he went. About 10 mins later he showed up at my table, food in hand, and quickly ‘dropped’ it off and split the scene.

After I finished eating (BTW, nobody came by to check on me, or my food - but I digress), a ‘bus-boy’ type person came by and picked up my dish (without asking me if I was done) and whisked everything away.

A few minutes later, as I was getting ready to place my order for a nice sweet dessert, my ’server’ came by and dropped off the check. What? Could that be? What about dessert? A coffee?

So I asked the little man, “aren’t you going to ask me if I want dessert?”. Not only is that classic restaurant upselling strategy, its what hospitality is all about. I must’ve shocked him, as if people in this San Francisco restaurant don’t normally order dessert.

He went on to tell me that they only had one, maybe 2 different dishes. He really did a bad job in ’selling’ me so I decided I’d just pay my bill and get the heck out. If a bad experience is one pet peeve, putting up with it is another.

Now I really wanted something sweet. The idea of not being able to have it was getting to me. So I walked right in to the restaurant next door and placed my order.

I wonder if I would’ve been better off just staying at the first place :-)

She built a successful business that stands stronger and prouder each year with an average growth of about 28% per annum. So what can we learn from this wonderful businesswoman?

First off, take a moment to consider one of her famous quotes:

“I have learned to imagine an invisible sign around each person’s neck that says, ‘Make me feel important!”.

To me, this is a powerful message… if I think about all of my relationships, whether they be business or personal (although the line is pretty blurry), the strongest ones are either where somebody has made me feel important, or vice versa.

My business is all about relationships… maintaining existing ones and building new ones. In fact, I’d even go as far as saying that I’m in the relationship business. I know that without the strength of my relationships, my businesses would not be as strong as they are.

Of course I’m not suggesting that my relationships are perfect… nobody can really make that claim. But I do know that I work as hard as I can to maintain and strengthen them. I know I can do better, and I see the benefits almost immediately when I focus on any one. But that’s just it… its a constant job, one that needs love and attention all the time.

So what are you doing to build and strengthen your relationships? Who are you making feel important? Has anybody ever made you feel important? Think about the last time you were made to feel important, how nice that felt, and exactly what the other person did. Now, think about how you can turn that around and try that today. Let me know what you think. Good luck.

To learn more about Mary Kay, check out what the American National Business Hall of Fame has to say about her.

The other day I read a quote from Thomas Stemberg, the founder of Staples Inc. where he said:

“Treat people right and they will eat nails for you.”

Of course we wouldn’t want our peeps to be eating nails, but I think the point is pretty clear.

In one of my companies, we’re going through the typical growing pains of building the business, attracting good talent, creating a good corporate culture, etc. But one thingI’ve found is that we get back from our people in proportion to what we put in. Sure, there’s a few that put in more and go beyond the call of duty, but there’s also a bunch that just do what they’re asked.

But even those people tend to perform better when we engage them and make them feel like a part of the team. We give them projects that excite them and also help them learn/grow, while benefiting the company.

In every aspect of my life, both personal and business, I have found that the best way to get what you want, is to try and give others what they want. Only through this approach of sharing and helping, can we all become better and reach our individual goals.